After last week’s episode of Dragon Ball Super was widely criticised for being a rehash of a scene from the Battle of Gods movie with inferior animation, many Dragon Ball fans have been venting their frustration at the slow progress of the series thus far.

This week’s instalment picks up after Beerus, the God of Destruction, defeats Goku in just two blows on King Kai’s planet, and has come to Earth in search of Vegeta to see if he can divulge any information on the elusive ‘Super Saiyan God’. Luckily, for those who have seen the BoG film, things play out a little differently – so it, at least, doesn’t feel that similar.

Damn Anubis, you scary.

This time around, Vegeta still tries desperately to stop anyone or anything from annoying Beerus out of sheer fear that the God could destroy the planet, but it’s a longer and, indeed, better introduction to the dynamic between the two. An extended flashback to Vegeta’s childhood sees Beerus humiliate the Saiyan prince’s father, and Super does a much better job of showing how traumatising the experience turned out to be. The memory seemed to have been buried deep within Vegeta’s subconscious, and the sudden reappearance of Beerus causes him to seize up, both physically and mentally. Definitely a side of Vegeta never before seen: finally, some development.

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This version of the story seems to instil a greater sense of overall tension. While a lot of the happenings that nearly set Beerus’ famously destructive temper off are still very slapstick, they are adeptly laced with an undercurrent of dread, which plays out very well. The tone-switches for different points of view were a particular highlight.

…yeah, Vegeta is in need of some serious therapy.

This very much continues throughout the episode, with the main event arriving towards the end – pudding. Majin Buu refuses to give any pudding cups to Beerus by licking every single one, and this, of course, infuriates the God of Destruction. Beerus thrashes Buu in a pretty epic fashion, and the preview of episode 7 gives us a brief glimpse of what looks like a massive on-boat brawl. It’ll be interesting how Super deals with that fight in more depth.

Overall, episode 6 of Dragon Ball Super was an improvement on what feels like a lazy and uninspired series so far. It’s finally good to see the pace picking up and some actual character development. Here’s hoping the series can ramp up the momentum further and become the show that Dragon Ball fans have been waiting so long for.

Bonus Observations:

Is it only me that thinks Goku seems like more of a moron these days?

They’re REALLY running with the Master Roshi perv thing.

Can you not, Roshi?

Bulma thinks Vegeta’s never had any friends. Burn.

NOBODY LIKES YOU, YAMCHA.

NOBODY.

Krillin can’t even handle a tiny bit of wasabi sauce. Wuss.

Pretty sure that this counts as another death for Krillin.

Oh yeah, these guys appear for a few seconds. Even they look a bit bored.

Are these guys still here?

Vegeta actually made me laugh this week. Get in the sea. Literally.

FULLY in the sea.

I mean, LOOK.

“BUT WE HAVE DUMPLINGS GALORE”

How does Beerus not know about Buu at all?

Huu are you?

Is pudding really the best dessert to destroy the world over? I would have preferred a fudge sundae to be honest.